Joint Preparatory Meeting Gears Up For 27th ASEAN Summit In November

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is hosting the Joint Preparatory Meeting (JPM) and related meetings from Tuesday to Friday in Kuala Lumpur in preparation for the 27th ASEAN Summit in November. In a statement Wednesday, Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry) said the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), 6th Asean Coordinating Council Working Group Meeting on the ASEAN Community's Post-2015 Vision, and other related preparatory meetings will be held from Thursday to Friday, respectively. Foreign Ministry secretary-general Othman Hashim is leading the Malaysian delegation at these meetings. According to the statement, the JPM and related meetings would provide ASEAN member states with an opportunity to discuss ASEAN community-building as well as the ASEAN Community's post-2015 Vision. The JPM is in preparation for the 27th Asean Summit and Related Summits to be held from Nov 18 to 22 in Kuala Lumpur. "Apart from that, the meetings will be a platform for an exchange of views on issues of common interest and concern towards strengthening ASEAN," it said. The statement added that the JPM would involve the participation of senior officials from the three community pillars of ASEAN, namely ASEAN SOM Leaders, ASEAN Senior Economic Officials' Meeting (SEOM) Leaders and the Senior Officials' Committee for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council Meeting (SOCA) Leaders. It said Malaysian officials from the Foreign Ministry, International Trade and Industry Ministry, and Tourism and Culture Ministry would attend the meetings. "Senior officials of the other Asean member states as well as the Deputy Secretary-General of Asean and officials from the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta will also be present at the meetings," it said. -- BERNAMA